1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate to sharing a contact profile between client devices during a communication session.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wireless communication systems have developed through various generations, including a first-generation analog wireless phone service (1G), a second-generation (2G) digital wireless phone service (including interim 2.5G and 2.75G networks) and a third-generation (3G) high speed data, Internet-capable wireless service. There are presently many different types of wireless communication systems in use, including Cellular and Personal Communications Service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular Analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), the Global System for Mobile access (GSM) variation of TDMA, and newer hybrid digital communication systems using both TDMA and CDMA technologies.
It is typical for client devices (e.g., mobile devices such as cell phones) that use the above-noted communication systems or other types of access networks (e.g., WiFi, etc.) to maintain a set of contact profiles in a contact book. Each contact profile can be associated with a particular contact (e.g., a friend, a family member, etc.) and each contact profile can include a variety of contact addresses that use different contact mechanisms for reaching the particular contact. For example, a given contact profile can include, for a single contact, a cellular phone number, a home phone number, an email, VoIP IDs (e.g., a Skype ID), a Google Voice ID, an IMS ID for presence and VoIP calls using IMS servers, and so on. However, these contact profiles generally require manual effort to be generated and maintained (e.g., the user must physically input each contact address into the contact profile for a particular contact). Also, while a client device may permit a contact address of a contact to be appended to an existing contact profile after the client device communicates with the contact over that contact address, it can be difficult to add new contact addresses to contact profiles if those contact addresses have not yet actually interfaced with the client device.